@mecila.net
Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America
Ana Carolina Torquato is a junior postdoctoral fellow at Mecila (Maria Sibylla Merian Centre: Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America), March to November 2022. She holds a PhD in Literary Studies and Animal Studies from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), 2020. Her research interests include Comparative Literature, Animal Studies, Lusophone and Anglophone literature, Anthropology and Philosophy.
She holds a Masters degree issued by the multi-institutional programme, Crossways in Cultural Narratives (Erasmus Mundus), through which she earned a master's degree from each of the following universities: Universidade Nova de Lisboa, The University of Sheffield and Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (2012-2014).
She holds a bachelor's degree in Literary Studies with a major in Portuguese and English languages at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), 2011.
She holds a bachelor's degree in Literary Studies with a major in Portuguese and English languages at the Federal University
PhD in Literary Studies - Federal University of Paraná/Universität Potsdam
MA in Comparative Literature Erasmus Mundus, Crossways in Cultural Narratives (University of Sheffield; Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Universidad de Santiago de Compostela)
Animal Studies; Ecocriticism; Comparative Literature; Brazilian Literature; Urbanization; Zoological Gardens; Aquariums; Animals in the City
The project investigates how human-animal relationships are perceived and represented in urban zoos and aquariums in fictional and non-fictional contexts. The basis of my analysis is the selected works of three Latin American writers, Julio Cortázar, Clarice Lispector and João Guimarães Rosa. The corpus is composed of circa fourteen texts including one short story by Clarice Lispector, one by Junior Cortázar and a group of ten short stories by Guimarães Rosa. The themes of these narratives coincide since both of them report on visitations to zoos and aquariums located in Brazil and Europe. Besides commenting on the geographical recognition of the spaces, the stories’ narrators also remark on animal agency and the state of confinement of the animals observed. My analysis will focus on four major points: the description of zoos and aquariums; the presence or absence of any remarks concerning animals’ state of captivity; the description of the human-animal relationship and how the texts p
Scholar Citations
Scholar h-index
1. Torquato, Ana. (2023): Scientific racism in 19th and early 20th-century Brazilian literature: humans portrayed as animals. In: Slavery, Freedom, and Beyond: Interdisciplinary Debates on Brazilian and African Societies in Historical and Contemporary Perspective, Eds. Hofmeister Pitch, Roberto., Conerman, Stephan. Accepted for printing in: De Gruyter Verlag.
2. Torquato, Ana (2022): Humanos ou inumanos: a animalização de seres humanos e a influência das teorias raciais na literatura brasileira do século XIX e XX. Eds. Burnautzki, Sarah.; Peregrino, Miriane. Accepted for printing in: Peter Lang Verlag.
Title in English: Humans or inhumans: the animalization of human beings and the influence of racial theories in Brazilian literature of the 19th and 20th centuries
3. Lustosa Guerios, Aureo., Torquato, Ana.* (2022): The role of Animals in Pandemic Narratives: forewarning disaster, causing outbreaks, bestowing immunity. In: Pandemic Protagonists. Viral (Re)Actions in Pandemic and Corona Fictions, Eds. Obermayr, Julia., Hobisch, Elisabeth., Völkl, Yvonne. Accepted for printing in: Transcript.
4. Torquato, Ana (2021): Animality and textual experimentalism in João Guimarães Rosa’s My Uncle, the Jaguar. In: Word & Text (special issue Animality and Textuality), Eds. Milesi, Laurent., Piskorski, Rodolfo. DOI: 10.51865/.